Tigers possibly breeding...

[mark]

Ok, don't want to get anyone too excited here, but it has almost been a week now. My eastern tigers keep going in the water portion of my tank. The one has always been very fat, I assumed it just ate more than my others, but no matter how much I try to let it cut back on food, it stays that way. Anyway, I just noticed that my other tigrinum has a very swollen cloaca, just like my male A Mavortiums. This was news to me, as I could never tell sex with the tigrinums yet. Anyway, I keep walking into the "newt room" after work, when it is dark, and see the 2 tigrinums splashing around in the water together. Now, granted, all 4 of my tigers commonly make it to the water area, especially at night, but never with this consistency, and always together! I find it hard to believe that they would have any chance of succeeding, as the water area is only about 10" by 18" by 3" (it was not designed for attempted breeding, just for a small water area). If this keeps up, I will at least remove the large rocks from the area and give them some room. I am not too hopeful, but the behavior and obvious male and female shapes of each even has me believing!
I may even transfer them into a temporary breeding setup in another tank.

 

[mark]

That is awesome, good luck!!!

 

[william]

That would be cool if they did breed.

 

[jennifer]

Even if they don't breed, it's still quite a good sign that they are showing these behaviors. Keep us posted!

 

[paris]

ive got several males with swollen cloacae (pl?) -though they have them year round sometimes too-and they now have grown their tails wide -compared to the females. the females are plump-so i picked 3 of the best fems and one male and put them in a mostly aquatic 20 gallon long set up-but for now they are just huddled on the land section-so despite all appearences of ready-ness they seem unwilling. the fact that yours are spending alot of time in there and perhaps engaging in some courtship (the splashing) seems promising.

(Message edited by paris on January 11, 2005)

 

[mark]

Yeah, they are in there right now again. At least in the water; didn't hear or see any splashing, but its just those two again. I was going to feed them tonight, but I don't know, I hate to disturb them, especially after dark. I removed the big rocks to give them a little more room yesterday.

Paris, my 2 male A mavortiums also have the (very)swollen cloaca year round, and the flattened tails. I don't know what motivated them originally, they were like that since I bought them from someone.

Another weird sidenote: Of all the caudates that I have had, once a male gets in breeding dress/habits, it NEVER seems to stop them. For example in addition to the tigers, my male taricha has been in breeding mode for about a year, and tries to amplexus everything in sight, even occassionally my fingers. Also, years ago when I had c pyrrhogaster, the male was in breeding dress for a very long time, before finally finding a female that would get into it and laid some eggs. My experience is that caudates don't seem to be animals that will get back into their "normal" behavior until breeding happens, no matter how long it takes. (by the way, I have never purposely altered any of their living conditions to encourage breeding behavior, it always has happened by "accident" for me.)

 

[mark]

Hi, I am interested inbreeding tigers, and I am getting a 250 gallon for free soon, so my question is. Do you think it would be possible to breed tiger salamanders in a 250 gallon?

 

[mark]

Here are some pictures of the tigers in the water.

The female is on the right in this picture:

That's the male above the female. Notice the swollen cloaca. The female appears to be very heavy, that's why I believe she is gravid.

Here is the male:

Here's a shot of the swollen cloaca on the male:

 

[mark]

Does anyone know how long the males of A Tigrinum would stay in the water after breeding? Also perhaps if the male will breed on more than one night during a season. This would help give me a better idea as to what is going on, especially if my male ends up leaving the water, and the female stays. Info on other ambystomids would probably be helpful too for that matter. I have read up on it, but cannot find good information regarding this. I know that the female tends to lay eggs within a day or two, and I have not witnessed any eggs yet, but both remain in the water as of now.

Also, one other question. What are the biggest setbacks in attempting tiginum/mavortium breeding? I always thought the hard part was simulating the correct climate changes in order to trigger breeding instints. I would say that these two have definitely shown breeding behavior and appearance, so perhaps I have somehow got through that by accident.
If, on the other hand, the biggest challenge is getting the male and female to breed in indoor enclosures, or not having enough room, then I probably won't stand much of a chance.

I know this topic has been discussed before, but any opinions?

 

[mark]

Thanks, that sounds about right for general timing for both sexes staying near the pools. I am still wondering about differences between the two, and if males will breed just once and be done or continue nightly...
Petranka's book would come in handy! I wish I had bought that thing long ago. I knew he has very detailed statistics in terms of breeding accounts in it.